Economic sectors (tourism, airport & port industries)
In terms of water consumption in the Barcelonès, the sub-provincial region where the city of Barcelona is located, economic activities consumed on average 32% of the total between 2012 and 2019, while domestic consumption represented 68% of total consumption, according to data provided by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) (XIX). Moreover, according to Barcelona's city hall data, commercial and industrial consumption of water has reduced by 20,13% between 1999 and 2016 (XX).
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The Llobregat desalination plant is located in Barcelona’s “Zona Franca”, an industrial park near the port and the airport (XXVII). Potentially, its strategic placement might have been encouraged by transport, industrial and touristic actors in the Bacelonian coast, sectors with high water demand. Yet, no micro information is publicly available in terms of specific uses of drinking water. Moreover, actors interviewed (the scholar David Sauri and the grassroots associations AMAP and L’aigüa és Vida) indicated that once desalinated water enters the water supply network it is not possible to track its origin and destination, as two separate networks for domestic or industrial consumption do not exist. Hence, water from the aquifers, the river Lobregat and desalinated water will flow and be mixed in the Sant Joan Despí treatment plant. Yet, they indicated that water from the desalination plant is mainly for domestic use. The spatial analysis indicates that the plant is also located near the agrarian park of the Baix Llobregat. Yet, the llobregat river water is mainly used to supply this agricultural purpose.
During our interview, professor David Sauri explained:
“In the agricultural areas of Spain, desalinated water goes to the city and the tourism sector, who can pay for it, but it does not go to agriculture if there are no subsidies. But the same differentiation cannot be made in Barcelona (...) In Barcelona most of the water is for domestic and public consumption (mainly commercial and residential). Now they also irrigate with treated wastewater and groundwater. Industrial use has decreased a lot, before in the “Zona Franca'', when Nissan was there, there was more activity (consuming up to 1hm3 per year), now a lot of industry is gone. Most are for residential use and generally the water comes from reservoirs, aquifers and a small part in case of drought can come from the desalination plant.”
“Could the touristic sector and the expansion of the coast in Barcelona have influenced the use of desalinated water? It can be. Yes it is important, but not that much. It is not water to drink (tourists drink bottled water) but for domestic consumption (showers). We must not exaggerate, it was more in terms of image than real consumption. It is important, Barcelona receives a lot of people, but a lot has been done in hotels to be more efficient”.